IRVING, Texas -- MRI tests on injured Dallas linebacker DeMarcus Ware and running back Marion Barber revealed no significant damage a day after both were injured in the Cowboys' Thanksgiving Day win over Seattle.

An MRI exam on Ware's hyperextended left knee showed no ligament damage Friday. An MRI exam on Barber's right pinkie toe, which was dislocated, revealed no fracture.

Broncos | Webster questionable for Week 13
Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:21:53 -0800Denver Broncos LB Nate Webster (knee) participated in practice Friday, Nov. 28. He is listed as questionable for the team's Week 13 game, and he may be able to play. He said he will definitely be ready for Week 14.

Broncos | Royal questionable for Week 13
Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:24:09 -0800Denver Broncos WR Eddie Royal (toe) was limited during practice Friday, Nov. 28. He is listed as questionable for the team's Week 13 game. Royal was reluctant to speak about his chances of playing this week.

Broncos | Young questionable for Week 13
Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:30:06 -0800Denver Broncos RB Selvin Young (groin) was limited during practice Friday, Nov. 28. He is listed as questionable for the team's Week 13 game and probably will not play.

Tennessee has reached an agreement with former Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin to take over as the Volunteers' next coach, with an announcement planned for Monday, barring any snags, according to multiple sources.
Kiffin, 33, will be making his college head coaching debut in succeeding Phillip Fulmer, who will coach his last game for the Vols on Saturday.

Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton denied reports on Wednesday that Kiffin had been offered a contract. But Kiffin has been at the forefront of the Vols' search for some time.

Part of the holdup is that Tennessee didn't want to do anything officially this week that would take away from Fulmer's final game Saturday against Kentucky. Fulmer was fired by Hamilton on Nov. 2 and allowed to finish out the season. He's been at Tennessee as a player, assistant coach and head coach for 35 years.

The university has dubbed Saturday's game "Phillip Fulmer Appreciation Day" at Neyland Stadium in celebration of his 17-year tenure.

Kiffin was 5-15 in a year and a half with the Oakland Raiders before being fired earlier this season by team owner Al Davis.
Kiffin, the youngest head coach in NFL history when he was hired by the Raiders, earned $2 million per year in Oakland. His salary at Tennessee is expected to exceed that.

One of the big draws with Kiffin was the staff that he'll potentially be able to put together. He's talked with his father, Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, about joining him at Tennessee. The elder Kiffin is considered one of the foremost defensive minds in football.

Kiffin also has talked to former Mississippi head coach Ed Orgeron about joining his staff in Knoxville. Orgeron currently is an assistant on Sean Payton's New Orleans Saints staff and coached with Kiffin at USC earlier this decade.

Kiffin will become only the fifth head coach at Tennessee in the last 45 years. He had stints as offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator at USC and shared play-calling duties with quarterbacks coach Steve Sarkisian during his two-year run as offensive coordinator with the Trojans in 2005 and 2006.

Just several days after losing Brady Quinn to a broken finger, Cleveland also lost Derek Anderson to a left MCL injury in the waning moments of Sunday's 10-6 defeat to the Indianapolis Colts. The recovery time for MCL injuries is usually 3-4 weeks, which likely means Anderson is out for the remainder of the 2008 season.

The New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will play a regular-season game at London’s Wembley Stadium on October 25, 2009, the NFL announced on Monday.

The Bucs will be the home team, which means that the cannons at Raymond James Stadium will be firing for only seven regular-season games in 2009.

(The fact that Tampa is hosting the Super Bowl this year might make the pill go down a bit more easily.)

It will mark the second straight sacrifice of a home game by an NFC South team. Earlier this year, the Saints gave up a home game to host the Chargers in London. The move was questioned in some circles (as in, right here) because of the fact that the citizens of New Orleans had lost all eight home games only three years ago.

“Over the past two years, we have seen first-hand the excitement that exists for our sport in the UK,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said of next year’s game. “The games have helped us to deepen our connection with our UK fans as well as create new ones. We are looking forward to another outstanding game in 2009.”

Said Patriots owner Robert Kraft: “We are proud to be selected by the NFL to be featured in next year’s international game. We have had a lot of memorable moments in recent years. I am sure our trip to the United Kingdom next year will prove to be an unforgettable experience for our players and coaches, as well as the many fans that will travel to the game. I think it is fitting that New England’s first game to be played outside of North America will be in England. I know that the UK is home to some of our most passionate Patriots fans and we look forward to the experience.”

There ultimately could be a significant layer of intrigue when these two teams square off; Tampa quarterback Jeff Garcia is in the final year of his contract with the team, and the cap-rich Bucs might enter the offseason bidding for current Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel.

The Cleveland Browns have announced that tight end Kellen Winslow will miss Sunday’s game at Tennessee with a high ankle sprain. He’ll wear a walking boot for up to a week.

The team said nothing about Winslow’s availability beyond the upcoming game.

The Browns also have announced the quarterback Derek Anderson has a torn MCL, and that he is expected to recover within four-to-six weeks. Since only four games remain in the 2008 regular season, we think it’s safe to assume that Anderson won’t be back in uniform this season.

And given that the team owes him a $5 million roster bonus in March, chances are that Anderson won’t be back in a Browns uniform ever.

After the Bengals lost on Sunday to fall to 1-10-1, coach Marvin Lewis promised that the fans won’t be subjected to such a horrid season again next year.

But will Lewis be around to fulfill that promise, or will he be fired after his worst season as a head coach? Bengals owner Mike Brown said today that he believes Lewis is the right man to turn the team around.

“I thought that was a good statement,” Brown said, per Bengals.com. “No one down here is happy with what has happened and we all want to correct it badly. That was an indication he plans on correcting it.”

Brown didn’t want to characterize his comments as a vote of confidence, but he had nothing but positive things to say about Lewis, who still has two years left on his contract.

“In many ways he’s done an incredibly good job,” Brown said of Lewis. “Our players still try hard and that’s hard to come by when you go through all the losing this team has gone through.”

Brown also said he has no plans to hire a general manager, he thinks quarterback Carson Palmer will come back strong from his elbow injury and he expects wide receiver Chad Ocho Cinco to stay with the Bengals for the duration of his contract, and he defends the Bengals’ decision to tolerate trouble-makers like wide receiver Chris Henry by comparing him to Giants receiver Plaxico Burress.

“If you’ve got further concerns on that kind of thing,” Brown said of issues with problem players, “you’ll have to call the New York Giants who have an 11-1 record and their guy, who has taken the role over of NFL bad guy.”

For the owner of a team with the second-worst record in the league, Brown sounds like he feels pretty content with his team as it is.

Just several days after losing Brady Quinn to a broken finger, Cleveland also lost Derek Anderson to a left MCL injury in the waning moments of Sunday's 10-6 defeat to the Indianapolis Colts. The recovery time for MCL injuries is usually 3-4 weeks, which likely means Anderson is out for the remainder of the 2008 season.

Two years ago, then-Falcons coach Jim Mora sealed his fate in Atlanta by saying in a radio interview that he’d bolt the Falcons (as Bobby Petrino would do a year later) if Mora had the opportunity to become the head coach at the University of Washington, his alma mater.

Mora was later fired by the Falcons, apparently due in part to his surprisingly candid display of disloyalty to his employer.

And so he landed as an assistant coach with the Seahawks. With head coach Mike Holmgren deciding to make 2008 his final year with the team, the Seahawks entered into an agreement earlier this year that will make Mora the head coach after Holmgren goes. (An exception to the Rooney Rule permits such arrangements, even though we think that such arrangements circumvent the spirit of the rule.)

But now the Washington job is open, and rumors are flying that Mora is getting the job.

We won’t be surprised if it happens. Mora had clear his feelings for the position in 2006, and with the struggles of the 2-10 Seahawks and his membership on the current coaching staff, there’s a chance that Mora would instantly be on the hot seat from Day One on the job.

The Cleveland Browns have lost two quarterbacks for the season in the last couple of weeks, so now they’re adding one to the roster.

Cleveland has signed free agent quarterback Bruce Gradkowski.

The 25-year-old Gradkowski started 11 games as a Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie in 2006, throwing for nine touchdowns and nine interceptions. But he played only in mop-up duty in 2007 and has been out of football this season.

Ken Dorsey will start for the Browns at quarterback on Sunday at Tennessee.